Poco: A Good Feelin' to Know

Their 5th album - this is Poco's A Good Feelin’ to Know . The title track became Poco's most recognizable tune of its early days.  This album did not do as well commercially as expected - compared to their first 4 records, which ultimately discouraged founding member Richie Furay.   Poco was really a niche band within a narrow sector of melodic and layered harmonized easy listening country rock - a definitive precursor, connecting the dots, to the Eagles.   And by this time - Jimmy Messina had already left the band - having founded the group and and playing on their first three albums.  In the book I am reading by Clive Davis - Clive noted that it was he who suggested that Jim "produce" a record by a then mostly unheard of singer-songwriter named Kenny Loggins.  You know the rest of that story.

   "After Poco, Messina signed a contract with Columbia Records, (Clive Davis) as an independent producer.  Messina was first introduced to the idea of producing (a record for) Kenny Loggins in the summer of 1970, while still performing on the road with Poco.  Loggins first met with Messina in December 1970 at Messina's home, where the two recorded a number of Loggins' compositions in Messina's living room. Loggins, at the time, was a songwriter for ABC Dunhill and not a performing artist.  The songs he presented for his album leaned more toward being a folk artist, a style Messina felt might anchor Loggins in a past trend as opposed to being a part of a future trend.  In the course of deciding how to produce Loggins' first solo album, Messina met with Clive Davis, then president of Columbia Records.  The inexperienced Loggins had no agent, no manager, no business manager, and no prior experience as a performing artist; Messina felt Loggins needed some kind of an edge.  Messina proposed to Davis that he be allowed to "sit in" with Loggins' on his first solo album in the same way that jazz artists had done in the past. Loggins also needed more upbeat and diverse material to help him gain appeal as a pop music artist.  After reluctantly agreeing, Clive pursued the "Sitting In" concept through to the end."   As you know...